A dismantled 4-meter telescope.

About this image

The dismantled Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory. In the foreground is the mirror cell, with the edge supports around the edge and two circles of active optics supports within. At the rear, the primary mirror, freshly stripped of its aluminum coating, is being prepared for lifting onto the bottom of the re-aluminization chamber visible in the middle of the picture. For more details, see the December 2002 NOAO Newsletter (currently only available in PDF format).